What diet should a diabetic on Coumadin (warfarin) follow?
I can't seem to find on your site a diet for those with diabetes who is on Coumadin (warfarin). My husband had open heart surgery in January and I can't seem to cook right: every time he goes to get his INR level checked it is different. He is also a diabetic on oral medication for that..Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Dr. Gourmet Says...
The first step is for you and your husband to speak with your physician about the the number of calories he should be eating each day. Many physicians have a dieticians available to their patients. Such referrals are especially helpful and if possible, you should go to the appointment with your husband.
Diabetics need to follow a diet based on a strict number of calories each day. Sometimes the number is to help with weight loss. At the same time it's extremely important for diabetics to eat a balanced diet. One key to this is consuming three regularly scheduled meals each day. Often doctors will recommend that their diabetic patients have a small bedtime snack as part of their diet as well.
The menus created in The Dr. Gourmet Diet Plan on the Dr. Gourmet web site are based on recommendations of the American Diabetic Association and American Heart Association. Using The Dr. Gourmet Diet Plan with the number of calories recommended by your husband's doctor or dietician is an option. Every recipe has information about whether the dish might be an issue for those taking warfarin.
A lot of the foods that are good are also higher in Vitamin K. One approach to healthy eating for patients on Coumadin® (warfarin) is to eat foods that have a similar amount of Vitamin K each day. For example, one day you could serve your husband brussels sprouts, the next broccoli and the next a salad made with spinach or having cooked spinach as a side dish. By eating a consistent amount of such foods each day the intake of Vitamin K is likely to be more stable.
Another approach is to eliminate foods that are high in Vitamin K from the diet altogether This is an easier approach but you have to make sure to feed your husband other vegetables. There are a LOT of veggies that don't have very much Vitamin K in them.
There are also food lists on the site to help guide you. They range from very basic information about Vitamin K content to very detailed. Here are the links:
http://www.drgourmet.com/md/warfarinbrief.pdf
http://www.drgourmet.com/md/relativewarfarinlist.pdf
http://www.drgourmet.com/md/warfarincomprehensive.pdf
Thanks for writing,
Timothy S. Harlan, M.D.
Dr. Gourmet
Eat well, eat healthy, enjoy life!
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How Much Vitamin K is in....?
There's an easy way to find out about the nutrition content of any food. Just use The Dr. Gourmet Diet Plan Software.
Just register to use the software, then click the Recipe Box tab. The ingredient database includes over 7,000 ingredients and will show you the nutritional information for those ingredients - including Vitamin K. Use the Food Diary section to help you track your daily Vitamin K intake along with calories and other nutrients. Try it now!